


I Haven't Seen You in Years

by Finn565



Series: In an Endless Universe I Will Always Find You [1]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Future Fic, I just wanted soft space boys mmk, M/M, Small one shot, bug irkens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:41:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finn565/pseuds/Finn565
Summary: He presses the comms button for the captain’s quarters down and is slightly surprised when he gets an immediate answer.“What’s wrong?”Neil swallows thickly as he stares at the message, “an Irken is attempting to come aboard.”There’s a small silence before the captain speaks, “I’ll be right down.” The com goes dead. The message flashes again, this time in all caps. As if the creature is becoming annoyed with the situation.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), ZaDr - Relationship
Series: In an Endless Universe I Will Always Find You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129628
Comments: 8
Kudos: 106





	I Haven't Seen You in Years

**Author's Note:**

> idk I just couldn't get this out of my head. Just some soft future space boys for yah

Neil would describe his job as very boring. The long expanse of dials and buttons in front of him blink in the same pattern they have been repeating since he started his shift. He serves on an exploration vessel called Eternity. Every day at 0600 he starts his shift as a security officer. He’s responsible for making sure there are no breeches in the hull, no ships in the vicinity that may be hostile, no hostiles on board, and no problems with the on board equipment. 

His job is labeled as important but for the most part he watches TV and glances every so often at the dials. If anything were wrong the console would start beeping at him and then he would fix it so it’s not like it requires lots of attention. 

He’s never even met the captain on this ship, let alone seen him. The man barely engages with anyone, few of the other crew mates have seen him or spoken with him. Though Clyde says they met once, the captain was an awkward man apparently, and had promptly excused himself. 

“He likes aliens more than people!” Clyde had laughed with the other crew mates. Neil had laughed too, of course. Who could like aliens more than their own species? He had met his fair share of aliens and a good many of them didn’t care for humans. 

The only other thing he knew about the captain is he was married, but his spouse was not aboard and apparently they hadn’t seen one another in some time. These were all rumors of course but they had to make some entertainment for themselves on the ship somehow. 

The console begins to beep. 

Neil sits up from his slouched position and stares at the red blinking button, unsure this event is actually happening. The screen just below a row of buttons flashes a red warning, the irken symbol appearing, then disappearing, and then appearing again following the beeping. 

“Fuck.” He begins to panic. Out of all the things that could have gone wrong on his watch, an Irken vessel is attempting to board. He sits up and checks the message. It’s slowly being translated from Irken to English for him. The jagged letters turning into more familiar ones. 

The message reads, “boarding immediately. Lower your shields.” 

Neil scoffs slightly at the abruptness of it. Not even asking for permission. This isn’t a decision he can just make, thisis almost exciting, he has to call the captain. 

He presses the comms button for the captain’s quarters down and is slightly surprised when he gets an immediate answer. 

“What’s wrong?”

Neil swallows thickly as he stares at the message, “an Irken is attempting to come aboard.” 

There’s a small silence before the captain speaks, “I’ll be right down.” The com goes dead. The message flashes again, this time in all caps. As if the creature is becoming annoyed with the situation. 

The captain walks into the security room moments later and stops in front of the boarding door. He’s tall, about 6 foot 2, give or take an inch. He has jet black hair with only a few small strands of grey hair. A cowlick of his hair flows from his part backwards. He’s got deep brown eyes and wears circular glasses. He looks like his father. With slight differences here and there. The captain's father had two robotic arms while this man only has one. 

“Lower our shields and allow the Irken aboard.” 

Neil balks for a moment, “A-are you sure, sir?” 

“Yes, I’m sure. He won’t hurt anyone, practically harmless.” The captain gives him a small but confident smile. 

He stares for a moment before looking down and letting the shields down. It’s only moments after when the door opens and the bug-like creature slinks in. Grinning with sharp teeth. Out of all the invaders he’s seen this may just be the tallest besides the actual tallest. This Irken only comes up to the captain's chest but for their species that’s impressive. Invaders don’t live long usually, and therefore don’t grow to be very tall. Most invaders die in war. How this one has managed is beyond Neil's comprehension. The middle of the Irken is beginning to thin out, like a wasp. Though the transformation doesn’t seem complete. 

The Irken looks around the room they are in and then snaps it’s crimson eyes back to the captain. “I’m searching for something.” It sneers, moving towards him with its sharp boots clicking against the floor. Surprisingly it is not wearing an Irken uniform, but rather a tight fitting shirt with a black bodysuit underneath. 

The captain remains calm as the creature moves around him, as if sizing up its prey. He keeps his head held high and all emotions off his face. “And what could that possibly be, Zim?” The captain regards the creature like it's a squashed bug on the bottom of his shoe. 

“Something I can not find on any other ship in the galaxy, Dib.”In a swift movement the creature rounds the captain to stand in front of him. The Irken raises up as far as it can to snap its teeth in the captain's face, but the man doesn’t even flinch at the threat. 

“What do you want, jerk?” There's a small smirk on the captains face, spreading lightly as the conversation continues. Neil feels the tension that was present begging to fade into something he can’t explain. 

“You.” The Irken grins again, at first Neil thinks there might be a fight that breaks out, but the captain smiles easily. There is no tension in the captain and the Irken lowers its hackles, still grinning but no longer threatening. 

“That was a pretty cheesy way to say you missed me.” The captain rolls his eyes with a smile. 

“There is another filthy human present. Zim can not injure his reputation.” The Irken crosses its arms over its chest. 

“Do you know who this is?” The captain gesture’s to the alien and Neil shakes his head slowly. He’s never heard of an Invader Zim. “See, your reputation is non-existent so you can’t even injure it in the first place.” 

The Irken snarls and raises its hackles again, making a hissing clicking noise at the captain, saying something in Irken and gesturing widely, clearly aggravated. The captain laughs and then answers in the same clicking hissing speech. Eventually hackles are once again lowered. 

“Neil, right?” The captain looks at him and he nods, “you can turn our shields back on. Zim will be with us for a while.”

He nods again and watches as the pair leave the security room. The Irken grumbles as they March off, and he turns back to the control panel to turn their shields back on. 

***

Dib waits to hear the door slide closed behind them before he turns back to the Irken and smiles, “I haven’t seen you in years.” He doesn’t mean to sound so soft, it just happens. Human weakness as the Irken would say, but Zim has been known from time and time to be just as soft with him.

“3 to be exact.” Zim answers him, the harsh edge of his voice also softened in this moment alone. Dib doesn’t waste time any longer, he pulls the Irken towards him by the waist and kisses him softly. 

When he pulls away the irkens antennae dance softly over his face as Zim takes in information on the ways he’s changed in their time apart. A feeling he is used to. He gently takes one of them and presses a kiss to the larger end of the antenna. 

“You are aging.” There’s a hint of disappointment in his partner's voice.

“Humans do that.” 

“Well stop.” The Irken growls and he laughs. 

“That’s not how it works and you know it.” He smiles gently. 

“I’m working on it.” Zim crosses his arms, huffing. 

“Working on what?” Dib rubs his thumbs against the irkens sides in a soothing matter. 

“Stopping it. Or delaying it at the very least.” 

“That’s very sweet of you.” Dib grins, almost mocking, because after all this time he can not resist provoking the Irken. 

“I’m not sweet.” The Irken snarls up at him but the threats no longer make him jump like they used to. He doesn’t even flinch when the sharp teeth clash towards his face. 

“I don’t know, sounds pretty sweet to me.” He sweeps the Irken off his feet and is met with hisses of protest. He gets them both on his bed, laying down. 

“You’re lucky I don’t bite your nose off.” 

“You wouldn’t like the taste,” Dib smiles, “I missed you. How long are you staying?” 

The Irken stops complaining, “However long it takes to halt your accelerated aging process. I need blood samples, but I’ve collected the necessary parts to start experimenting.”

“Can we spend some regular time together before you start doing tests on me?” 

The Irken grins and cups his cheeks with his claws, “of course.” 

Dib smiles and leans back in to kiss the Irken. 

***

Neil saunters into the cafeteria room with all the confidence of a man who knows too much for his own good, and goes straight to the table with Clyde sitting at it. There’s several other members of the crew all sitting there and when he approaches their chatting ceases. 

“You look smug,” the man says, always one for snide comments. 

Neil grins from ear to ear, “You’ll never guess who the captain is married to.”


End file.
